Bush's defense, security initiatives still a work in progress

With the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon still fresh in memory, President Bush vowed in last year's State of the Union to continue the war on terrorism and modernize the country's military. But while the speech laid out his vision on homeland and national security, it will likely take years to translate that into reality.

The president assured the nation that "we will shut down terrorist camps, disrupt terrorist plans and bring terrorists to justice. And second, we must prevent terrorists and regimes who seek chemical, biological or nuclear weapons from threatening the United States and the world."

The next goal, he said, was "to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass destruction." Here Bush mentioned North Korea, Iran and Iraq, states he said constituted "an axis of evil."

While his words drew applause and bolstered the nation's shattered confidence, the new pre-emptive policy has proven difficult to define and even harder to implement. And some suggest that it reinforced the lone cowboy image of the United States and complicated diplomatic efforts.

It also has become problematic in dealing with U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, home to most of the Sept. 11 hijackers and accused of financing terrorist organizations.

Fighting the war on terrorism will not come cheap, Bush told members of Congress and the nation.

"My budget includes the largest increase in defense spending in two decades-because while the price of freedom and security is high, it is never too high," Bush said. "Whatever it costs to defend our country, we will pay."

The Defense spending bill that Bush signed into law last October provides $355.1 billion-$11.7 billion less than the president requested but still considered by many as the largest single-year increase since the early 1980s.

Congress rebuffed the president's request for a $10 billion contingency fund for global counter-terrorism. Many lawmakers saw it as a presidential slush fund that would sidestep the need for congressional approval on how the money would be spent.

But the counter-terrorism fund could come up in a supplemental spending bill later this year.

"Afghanistan proved that expensive precision weapons defeat the enemy and spare lives," the president said, vowing to "replace aging aircraft and make our military more agile." Here the president's vision ran into the reality of defense contractors who rallied their congressional allies to keep existing fighter jets, weapons systems and warships that mean jobs to their workers and constituents.

But it looks as if the president may try again to cancel incremental improvements to aging weapons in the fiscal 2004 budget.

As for the nation's military forces, Bush said, "Our men and women in uniform deserve the best weapons, the best equipment, the best training-and they also deserve another pay raise."

Congress did pass the president's request for a 4.1 percent pay raise for military personnel, as well as special bonuses to retain those with special skills and increases in housing allowances. But even with the increases, many argue that military pay remains low compared with similar civilian jobs.

The president also outlined his homeland security strategy, which focused on bioterrorism, emergency response, airport and border security and improved intelligence.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the federal government has spent $64 billion in emergency supplemental funding for homeland security and combating terrorism, according to the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, an independent defense policy research group.

Another $24 billion was in the 2002 appropriations bills, and yet another $63 billion is in Bush's 2003 budget request, which Congress is still considering. In addition, $11 billion has been spent on Sept. 11 recovery efforts.

Bush also won congressional approval for creation of the new Homeland Security Department-which put dozens of agencies and departments dealing with the issue under one roof-and its new secretary, Tom Ridge, who was sworn in late last week.

Other presidential priorities included improving the collection and sharing of intelligence, expanding border patrols, strengthening airport security and using technology to track the entry and departure of visitors.

While these efforts have been initiated, much remains to be done on these fronts.